The Secret Garden

I was encouraged to edit my little expo book and submit it as an article to an occupational therapy magazine, which I have officially done, as of ten minutes ago! (We'll see what come of it...) However, it was sadly too long for their writing specifications, and I had to cut out some of my favorite (albeit extraneous) ideas, so I thought that this would be the perfect venue for me to discuss them. I have a rapt audience, I know (ha).

The book The Secret Garden by Frances Burnett, has always been one of my favorites, but since starting OT school, the story has begun to strike a new chord and makes me excited all over again about the benefits of occupation as therapy. In the book (or musical, if you are thus inclined), the recently orphaned Mary Lennox finds herself in a manor house abandoned, for the most part, to her own devices. She is sad and serious, but as she spends more time outdoors, making friends with a local robin and finding her way into a long abandoned garden, she gains both physical strength and emotional stability. When she meets her infirmed young cousin, Colin, who has been relegated to being a cripple and seems to be facing imminent death, Mary brings him into the secret garden, he makes miraculous strides – literally; he begins walking. So what did it take for these two characters to make these physical, cognitive, and psychosocial gains? A little bit of nature and some purposeful activities!